US STOCKS-Wall St reaches new highs as China moves to limit coronavirus impact

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* China to halve extra tariffs on some U.S. imports
* U.S. weekly jobless claims hit nine-month low
* Becton Dickinson tumbles after forecast cut
* Twitter advances as quarterly revenue tops $1 bln
* Indexes up: Dow 0.3%, S&P 0.33%, Nasdaq 0.67%

(Updates to close of U.S. market)
By Lewis Krauskopf
Feb 6 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks gained for a fourth straight
session on Thursday and Wall Street's main indexes hit record
highs as concerns eased over the economic fallout from the
coronavirus outbreak in China.
China said it would halve additional tariffs levied against
some U.S. goods, seen by analysts as a move to boost confidence
after the fast-spreading coronavirus disrupted businesses and
sparked broad market volatility. “The one primary thing that everyone has been listening to
and watching and seeing how it moves the market has been the
coronavirus," said Jonathan Corpina, senior managing partner for
Meridian Equity Partners in New York. "The headlines have been
somewhat neutral lately, and that has been acceptable for the
markets.”
Adding to the optimism for stocks were data showing that the
number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits dropped to
a nine-month low last week, with investors casting an eye toward
Friday's monthly U.S. employment report. The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 88.92 points,
or 0.3%, to 29,379.77, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 11.09 points,
or 0.33%, to 3,345.78 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added
63.47 points, or 0.67%, to 9,572.15.
Among S&P 500 sectors, communication services .SPLRCL and
technology .SPLRCT led the way, while energy .SPNY fell the
most.
Even with optimism about containing the broad economic
damage from the coronavirus, the impact of the health emergency
in China continued to show up in corporate reports. Chipmaker
Qualcomm Inc QCOM.O flagged a potential threat to the mobile
phone industry from the outbreak. Its shares fell 0.3%.
Investors were also digesting the acquittal on Wednesday of
U.S. President Donald Trump on impeachment charges. "The outcome was fairly well telegraphed and I think widely
believed, but it ends the chapter for now and I think that is a
modest positive for investor sentiment,” said James Ragan,
director of wealth management research at D.A. Davidson in
Seattle.
With the fourth-quarter corporate reporting season more than
halfway completed, S&P 500 companies are expected to have
increased earnings by 2.1% for the period, according to IBES
data from Refinitiv.
In earnings news, Becton Dickinson and Co BDX.N shares
slid 11.8%, contributing the biggest drag on the S&P 500, after
the medical technology company cut its 2020 forecast.
Kellogg K.N shares slumped 8.5% after the breakfast cereal
maker forecast full-year earnings that widely missed market
expectations. Twitter shares TWTR.N soared 15.0% after the social media
company reported $1 billion in quarterly revenue for the first
time. Philip Morris International shares PM.N rose 2.7% after
the tobacco company released results. Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
1.07-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.11-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 62 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 122 new highs and 41 new lows.
About 7.3 billion shares changed hands in U.S. exchanges,
below the 7.7 billion daily average over the last 20 sessions.